December
by LightRedemption
Summary: Twelve days after the fall of Amon, a mysterious spaceship lands on the devastated platforms orbiting the abandoned planet of Ulnar. - Post LotV sequel of November Princess - Nova's drawing by Eachy-Peachy.
1. Chapter 1

_**Here's the November Princess continuation.**_  
 _ **Time line is NP - LotV - This.**_

* * *

I

Ulnar was a fractured planet. Broken and abandoned after constant battle, there was barely any signs of life still present here, except for rogue Zerg broods left behind after the evacuation. Zagara had deemed her own power yet insufficient, and was forced to relinquish control of a part of the swarm and leave them here.

Ulnar, from the distant suns, was a massive sun disc. Its ring span reached up to eight times the planet size, and was expanding. The core of the planet had destabilised, causing excessive radiations expanding outward to the rest of the Sigma Quadrant. The recent ventures into the Void accessed through it only aided in speeding up its process of collapse. Soon, it will go supernova, and consume itself in a gulf of gas shockwave.

A Terran scout ship shot through space.

Its claw-like appearance housed two propeller rockets on each wing, and a laser gun down the bottom. Its metallic edges cut through the empty space as it twisted and turned to dodge the scouting overlords orbiting the planet's ring. Ulnar's surface had long been uninhabitable, and the gate to the Void was contained within a set of planetary platforms built on its gigantic ring. Even know, the gate hissed and glared, waiting to consume itself due to the eventual collapse of the imbalance of the Void.

The scout ship made its way onto a connecting platform. There were still unpowered Protoss structures here, mostly pylons and assimilators, abandoned during Artanis' brief stay. The ship hovered over a few abandoned mineral patches, before encountering a dormant brood base off the eastern platform. The Void energy present here had been drawing in the abandoned zerg. They had settled into a web of living fortresses to protect the breach, awaiting their eventual damnation. The scout ship had to land, as there was no more safe space to fly over.

Nova stepped out. Her white counter-gravity suit was hidden well behind the blue protective layer of the calibration machinery. Her hair, golden but crudely cut short, sat still in anticipation. She pulled down her goggles and had it at full power. Its scanner revealed the situation she was in. From her position to the target housed some fifteen thousand zerg bionics, stretched across six kilometres of crawlers and overseers. She had absolutely no backup, and not even a good ship. Going back to it for what seemed like the last time for a long time, she clutched the laser rifle in her hand. Tucking the gun behind her back, she sealed the ship's door, and began to move.

This platform system built around Ulnar was ancient, and thankfully straightforward. There were masses of them connecting floating land and stationary continents' debris with rails and transporters. With flying being impossible, she had little choice but to approach the gate to the Void by land. Unfortunately for her, this would involve hacking into and activating the contraptions operating these mobile platforms, effectively alerting her presence to every single zerg on the system. She wouldn't have minded that too much if her mission was a one-way trip. It wasn't.

The first step was always the easiest. Exerting an expert control over her psionic abilities, Nova's suit turned non-reflective. This was a quick and dirty way to mask the appearance of invisibility without having to wear full head armour. An experienced military man paying attention might be able to make out the outline such a stealth system, but Nova doubted the zerg's ability to do anything of the sort.

She began walking calmly toward the end of the current floating land mass. Here a panel resided. Turning on the machine, she realised that it had been hacked into currently. Someone had been using it to great effect, and now she wished she could do the same. Taking control of the panel was a breeze, and she didn't even need to brute force it. Whoever was responsible for locking it seemed to have felt absolutely no need to return. There wasn't even an encryption placed on the lock, but a simple hash. Soon, Nova assumed control over the entire rail system. This should give her free unhinged access, if it weren't for the zerg.

Climbing to a larger rocky cliff, she held a wider view. From this vantage point, she saw the platform she needed for transport being two notches to the west and five notches to the north. That would take at least a minute to get to where she is, and would certainly draw attention. She peered to her north. An overseer floated about aimlessly. Its two antennas rotated from side to side. It was only its path finding module, however. Nova knew it was the various eyes placed everywhere around its body that gave it the ability to see past her tricks. As powerful as such a power was, however, it was still limited by the laws of physics.

Nova initiated the movement protocol, generating a loud hiss from the rail engines. As the transportation platform slowly moved over, she kept watch on the zerg overseers. They could tell that something was causing such a ruckus, but they could not pin point it to where Nova was. She doubted they even figured out that this system was something that could be controlled. On the platform itself, however, was a few roaming zerglings, completely oblivious to what was happening beneath its feet. Nova was now faced with another dilemma. She should have little clearing those pests out, but how could she control the platform mover while standing on the platform itself.

After a moment of contemplation, she pulled out a small explosive from the package on her back. Setting it to maximum flash, she placed it on the control button that would start the correct motion. Departing immediately, she saw the zerglings reacting to this new attention-seeking contraption. As they ran off the platform and onto the control panel, gnawing at the bomb, Nova was already on the moving metallic board. Activating the remote explosive, it set off the signal for the scaffolding beneath her to move in the correct direction. However, it would also destroy the control panel itself as well as the zerglings once there. This sent out an area-wide signal for the stragglers to check out the site, which worked out in her favour. Nova sighed in both relief and worry. It was something she had to do, but she had absolutely no plans as to how to return once this mission was over. That was something to worry about later, still, as her troubles were far from over.

As she arrived at the north most base of the zerg web, these feral have managed to set up a quite airtight defence line against unknown threats. Without a leader, they were maintaining formation on both sky patrol and ground patrol. Packs of mutalisks and corruptors circled the immediate airspace above the gate, which was now drenched and absorbed into a giant zerg biomass. Nova moved forward, almost stepping into tumours along the way. The ground reeked of flesh and pulsated like veins. It was common zerg structural distribution, but that made it all the more strange. They shouldn't have been this organised, not even close.

Nova sneaked in between a pile of rocks. With the platform movement having cut most of the distance, she was now only a fifteen minute run to her target. This last stretch was the hardest, however. Immediately before her was a spire. The giant biological structure was five times her height. Its spiky, armoured tendrils dug deep into the ground. In the middle were bug-like fangs sticking out, flailing aimlessly. The top of it housed a curious everted hole, pulsing up and down as if it was used to breath.

Nova believed structures to be the key to her quest. They had the least nerves connection with the rest of the swarm. If she were to kill a single zergling it would alert the entire horde. However, a few pokes here and there on a spire would not cause much trouble at all. Thinking fast, she bolted toward the tendrils. Edging her way across the bar-like formation, she was now underneath the structure. Right beneath her was a crack in the ground leading to absolute darkness. Right above her was the swinging claw, desperate to grab at anything it could. Despite the overseers still very much keeping close eyes on things, this temporary shelter will keep her hidden. The structure itself had no reaction, not that it normally wouldn't, but because she was still invisible to the naked eye.

There was a hatchery not further than a ten seconds' dash. Due to its colossal size, Nova figured it could be a decent place to hide under. Despite it not having any chambers meant to be walked, the ends where it produces larvae could be hijacked as a quick moving parasite. Not thinking any more, she went for it, and made the run even faster than expected. The hatchery loomed over her head like a giant pyramids. On for sides claw-like bone structure raised to the sky like columns, anchoring the building to the earth it was injecting itself into. She went deeper into it, expecting to be able to come out of the other side. As it got increasingly darker, she was forced to turn on her night vision.

She had wished she hadn't.

An innumerable amount of unprocessed larvae was crawling on all possible open space within here, and even on top of each other, piling themselves up to her waist. Their small but sharp spikes covered their entire body, even their heads. As she carefully stepped over and forward through these dark and seemingly endless tunnels, Nova could feel these creatures swarming over here. She cannot resist, lest risking the horde being informed of her position. While her body suit was tough and unshaken, her exposed head left a large area of vulnerable exposure. Despite having her arms and hands covering them, she was still getting stung occasionally, along with goo and saliva dripping onto her skin at most times.

After this futile struggle, she made it out to the other end. She was quite close to the gate. There was no significant building in the way, and despite the patrols she could swing herself into the gate and forget about the rest. As long as she kept her cool she had a chance. With that, she ran like mad. Counting each stride she paced herself to avoid any obstacles that appeared at the corner of her eye. She was obviously drawing attention, but it didn't matter. Once she passed there would be no looking back. Presently, the gate was only a few metres before her, and she ploughed toward the dark opened gate.

Instead of feeling the weightlessness of the void, she could only feel a hard stop. She had rammed into something which sprang up straight from the ground below her. Falling to her back, Nova realised that a zerg queen had been laying in ambush this entire time. All eight of its legs etched forward, its arms pinning Nova down by the shoulders, and its fibreless, bony wings were poised ready to strike. The queen screeched at her face, releasing bile and other substance upon its victim. The wings were raising slowly, and struck down fast. Nova closed her eyes and readied herself for damage.

Momentarily, nothing occurred.

The ghost operative opened her eyes again to see that the queen had stopped dead in the middle of attacking. The zerg about, which were approaching her position to intercept before, had also done the same. Slowly, the queen's wings now lowered, but not with the speed of a strike. Instead, it merely touched the end of its bony structure on Nova's forehead.

"It is you." A telepathic voice was transferred through that nerves system. "The Terran woman."

"Zagara?" Nova spoke out it surprise. She then realised that they weren't communicating through words, and began transmitting back the message through a psionic connection. "Are you controlling the zerg swarm here?"

"That's right, human." The Queen of the Zerg's voice transpired through all other beings in this immediate vicinity. "Why have you come here?"

"I'm here to save Kerrigan!"

For a moment, there was no reply.

"The Queen of Blades has been consumed into the void, human." Zagara's voice was that of faint regret, uncharacteristic for a primal. "There is nothing we can do."

"No, I can still sense her in there." Nova struggled to get out of the captive's grasp. Zagara allowed this.

"How can you sense her, yet we loyal subjects cannot?" The Zerg Queen pressed.

"My feelings for her are far more than just gratitude and respect," Nova explained under a painful voice. One could almost feel the agony in those words. "We are connected, Kerrigan and I. Trust me Zagara; I can do this."

A momentary silence.

In unison, all the zerg forces stepped aside, despite Nova still being within reach of the gate. She gave them all a nod of appreciation, before diving into the void gate once again.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Something's quite wrong with the Image Manager.**_

* * *

II

The barren wasteland extended as far as the eye could see. Unlike those observed on the human colonies in the Koprulu sector, no signs of organic life could have originated here. Across the stretched land, exploited geysers and crumbling mineral lines painted themselves on radar. Nova peered about. An unimaginable number of war causalities still littered here. Protoss, Zerg, and Terran alike was once part of this great battle, now left in decay under the intense vacuum of space. According to her sources, it was no more than two weeks ago where said battle had taken place, and no one who survived bothered to clean up after it. Perhaps it was the great loss suffered by those at the top, or the exhaustion of defeating an enemy a long time coming, the battlefield remained completely untouched. Corpses, bionics, machines, and robotics piled layers upon each other.

Nova walked forward, or at least the direction she believed was forward. Jumping into the void gate, it simply spat her out here. At the very least the entrance didn't seal itself shut, and she knew where to head on the way back. The first place to go would be a nearby hilltop, where she could observe the land and determine where to move next. It didn't take her long to get there, albeit distance was not exactly modest. From here she ran her scanner across the visible horizon. She didn't expect the void to be represented as a planet, and it didn't look like it either. The only reason a horizon-like line existed in the distance at all was because there was no source of light that could reach that far. There was no star system to reflect light, and the only thing that did was unstable static anomalies in the far off distance, which she couldn't identify. There was absolutely no sense of direction to be had here, but Nova could see the stretch of battle plastered across the land to her left, and that would be where she will be heading.

After an hour or so of agitated jogging, Nova stopped. She wasn't tired, but she will be soon, and there was still no sign of this wasteland ever ending. If the battle really lasted several days and involved all available forces of every party, this path could require her to walk for days. With that in mind, she turned to one of the nearby crash sites. Here was a layer of debris dumped atop a star fighter ship. It was the first one thus far that didn't look completely ruined, and she had hopes. She had only minimal training in engineering, having always preferred putting bullets through flesh to be a far more enjoyable past time, but Nova still knew the basics of repair. Pulling out a cylinder object strapped to her hip, she activated it to reveal a self-contained laser knife. It is with this that she planned to remove the contraption from the rest of the wreckage.

Of course this site didn't just contain robotic scraps and weapons of war, but also unidentifiable zerg bionics having been incinerated on the spot and dripped into the machinery. This was going to have to be removed later, she thought, as she pushed the debris out of the way as fast as possible. After a brief period, most of the dross removable by hand was cleared, and she could actually see the rest of the spacecraft. It wasn't in as bad a shape as she originally thought, and there was even a chance it could be fixed within the next few hours if she could clear out the rest of the debris. Most of them, however, were either too delicate to scrub off, or far too heavy for her to move by hand.

Climbing on the roof of the plane, she drew her legs together, and closed her eyes. This process wasn't absolutely necessary, but it is the most efficient in this specific context. Usually it was too dangerous to let her guard down, but now that she was literally in the middle of nowhere such concerns were purely superfluous. Under this intense conditions, Nova began to channel her psionic power. Her core began to spark, as her torso began to radiate the energy. The fire of determination within her fueled a directionless aura. Like being trapped within a giant ball of water, the brandings of bionic wastes began to slowly separate themselves from the craft's metallic husk. One vigorous movement after another, these stains and trash were wrenched from the hull and flowed aside. Once the inside of the ship was adequately cleared of obstructions, the energy field began to take form, originating from Nova's static centre. Everything the barrier touched was set ablaze. The vulgar intensity of the flames roared in absolute disregard, consuming the nearby field in molten heat. As the fire eventually dissipate, so did the barrier. Nothing but char was left within a kilometre radius, except for the craft Nova was sitting on.

Compared to this, the task of bringing this flimsy piece of machinery back to life was infinitely more difficult. Not only was manufactured settings and production fine-tuned the thing for specific users with a specific set of skills, the fact that it crashed without its pilot meant that something was nastily wrong with it in the first place. This turned out to be the obliteration of its left engine. Without it, the plane could not possibly get off the ground, let alone take her anywhere. As much as she would have preferred it, there couldn't be a spare booster lying around, and she wouldn't have been able to do anything about it either way. There was only one thing left she could do, and that was not going to be pretty.

Psionic power was always deemed a matter worth studying for the longest time. Terran, specifically, has a wild range of exposure to psychic power and abilities. Most of them are aware of its existence, but can neither sense nor abuse it at any capacity. Some have better instincts than this due to their special genetic mark-ups, sometimes attributed to planet of birth, and can sense psychics without being able to access the power themselves. These are employed as wranglers, or psychic hunters by the various governments. Their Psionic Index hovered from two to five. Within their ranks exist elite groups with Psionic Index reaching seven. These are the Spectres - from Project Shadowblade, Umojan Protectorate's Shadowguards, and lastly Terran Dominion Ghosts, of which Nova was trained. They are telepathic, and have resistance to telepathy of lower Index. Very few amongst them, those with eight on the scale, possess the ability of telekinesis. Even higher than that, the nines on the scale, has pyrokinesis, the ability to manipulate fire. These are incredibly rare and often treated as national treasures, given complete control of psychic squads and carry out missions at the highest levels of operations. Nova belonged to the very few still, even in this group. She ranked a perfect ten, one out of two Terrans in existence. The other was Kerrigan.

At times Nova wondered to herself that had it been her and not Kerrigan who was recruited by Mengsk back in the Great War, would it have been her who would go on and become the leader of the zerg. This question ate at her at night for years as the battles raged on. When the Terran Dominion finally took over humanity's leadership, she had longed for the chance to confirm and compete against the renowned and notorious Queen of the Blades. It was because of this that she was more than happy to take on the suicidal assassination mission on said queen all those months ago. Whatever happened back then, however, had quenched her thirst for answers.

Stepping into the craft, Nova strapped herself in. Pressing a few buttons, she was delighted to find out that the ship's navigation system was still alive. It didn't do a particular lot when she was inside the void, but it was useful for keeping her movement on a straight path, something she couldn't manage without a map. She had her hand on the console, and began channelling her energy yet again. Her hands acting as conduits, transferring her powers into the metal hawk. The engine hummed of disregard, as the entire contraption was crudely lifted off the ground and flung into the air. Like an invisible leash, no momentum could be seen. Her eyes on the radar, she moved the vehicle toward the end of the line of destruction. She would rather not have to do this, since a consistent exertion of energy will sap a lot out of her and make her less prepared for potential threats.

The battlefield extended even further than she originally thought. This long-winded destruction was as unapologetic as any war, but the kind of brutality in the campaign irked her somewhat. This fight against Amon, of which she wished she was a part, was too straight forward and too on the nose. There was something that didn't sit right with her. She wasn't here personally so these feelings could very well be attributed to anxiety, but paranoia wasn't such a bad thing for someone like her to have.

After a straight half hour of unhindered travelling above this desolate land, Nova had reached the end of the lit path. She had previously thought that this terrain was never ending, but instead faced a deep cliff drop off. Landing the ship at the edge, Nova stepped out only to see the unending literal void beneath her feet. It looked like the ground she was walking on was a floating platform. She could see no other land mass in view, and that bothered her. Where could everyone have gone? Were she to drop from this ledge would it simply swallow her whole?

"Who goes?"

Nova snapped to attention. Those words were spoken plain and clean, but there was no voice. It was not a vibration of air that travelled through space. It was simply a message communicated. After the initial shock, Nova realised that she was being spoken to telepathically. This was not a usual phenomena for her, as her psionic power is usually too strong for anyone to penetrate her mind like that. The only person who had ever managed to speak to her telepathically was Kerrigan, and that didn't sound like it.

"My name is Nova," she imprinted those words into her thoughts. Whoever was communicating with her, it was worth to keep a neutral impression. "Who are you?"

"Ouros."

Nova was about to ask, but was distracted by a great movement. A tectonic shift could be felt under her feet, as the ground cracked and split under its core. From below the depth rose a gargantuan being. With great speed, it soon entirely dominated Nova's view, filling up entirely of what was just an edge of the void a minute ago. Its fleshy exterior dripped with slime and riddled with tentacle limbs. Its off-colour pink form towered over the vast, open space, and loomed over all beings that may once have been. Its face, which Nova decided based on the peculiar patterns of what could be construed as a mouth, moved slowly up and down, and housed the prying tentacles.

"You're a xel'naga."

Nova observed Ouros in great fascination. Intelligence reports from the Dominion's last mission was less than clear of what had happened. Most likely only the top brass even had any idea at all. She personally knew of the xel'naga from studying Protoss artefacts and tapping into Raynor's transmissions from time to time, but this was the first time she ever saw one.

"And you are a Terran." Ourus spoke in telepathy still. She couldn't tell whether it was because he can't actually speak, or because her mind was the better tool of language than words regardless. "Yet your psychic readings are massive." She didn't respond. "Why have you come here?"

"I'm here for Kerrigan." Nova had just found the only sentient being so far within the void, and in his position, Ourus may be actually able to help her.

"The Queen wishes no visitor." Those words have liberated so many of her worries. At the very least, Kerrigan was still alive. "Your quest has come to an end."

"She doesn't know it's me." Nova, in all of her presumptuous good intent, was still in the dark as to what truly had transpired here weeks ago. Why didn't Kerrigan want to return? "Just let me speak to her."

"The Queen cannot leave." Those words stung like ice. "With Amon's death, the void has become unstable. The Queen's power is needed to maintain the balance of the worlds."

"Just let me see her," Nova implored, almost to the point of shouting.

She didn't come all this way to be told no. She was told a lot of things were impossible, and it never stopped her. The passion in her senses did not go unnoticed by Ourus. He slumped his head, as if to ponder the possibilities. Nova knew she couldn't do it without his help, and expanded her psionic energy as a showing of conviction. The xel'naga seemed to take great interest in this display.

"Perhaps," he mused. Without another word, he began to exert his own powers onto her. Nova felt her senses going black, as even her muscle control began to fail. It was a terrifying prospect, but she could no longer feel a thing.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Is the cover image broken for you?**_

* * *

III

Nova could feel the weightlessness of her own form. It was a surreal out-of-body experience to feel oneself above one's physical manifestation. It came as a surprise to her, however, to realise that she couldn't see. She could not see because her eyes weren't open. Such an obvious fact caught her off guard, as her limbs began to flail. There was nothing to touch, no wind, and no air. It wasn't the outer space zero gravity experience she was having though. She was still moving, just not in the kind of atmosphere she was used to. It took her another moment to note that this was in fact a downward motion, and a very fast one. An instinctive trigger in her mind flashed, causing a wave of psionic barrier to project around her in case of hostile contact.

Nova hit the ground hard.

The back of her head struck the earth. The bones in her body crackled under such force. Her limbs were numb. From what she could afford to feel, she hit the ground on her back. It was amazing she was not suffering from brain damage from that kind of height. She could no longer move for the time being. Finally opening her eyes, Nova saw space. It wasn't the sky, as there was no atmosphere. It wasn't the stars, instead just the intense blackness of the void. To her side was the overwhelming subtle light source that kept the entire place within visibility range. She wanted to turn her head to see it, but she couldn't.

Taking a deep breath. Nova assessed the situation. That fall might have made her permanently crippled, although further efforts showed she was just under great shock. There were definitely broken bones, at least on her hip, but she may be able to get up after some time. Focusing all sense and reason to her right foot, Nova could feel it move. Like a recovering paralysis victim, she forced her muscle to react one by one. This had to be the absolute worst condition of recovery, but if she didn't do it herself, no one was here to help.

Presently, she regained control of her fingers and toes. Pushing against the hard, rocky surface, Nova tried to get up. It was a futile effort, only resulted in her coughing up her insides, metaphorically. In this instance, she could taste the salty aftertaste of the warm liquid exuding from her throat. The blood coloured her tongue deep crimson, as she slowly pressed it against the back of her teeth. The nerves were returning to her senses, and her entire body was burning. There was so much pain inhibitors registering at once that she felt like passing out.

She did.

Nova awoke some undefined time later to find her body untouched. The pain had marginally subsided, and she could perceive her psionic powers flowing back into her core. Using it as a crutch, she pulled herself up by the elbow. The process of standing was slow and excruciating, but she managed it eventually. The scene from before returned to her, as the edge she was standing at before had been replaced with a vast expanse of desolation, shaped into giant hollow circle. At the outer rim was the same type of mass destruction she had witnessed before. Rotting corpses of all kinds and mechanical debris littered the ground. In the middle was open space. Floating titanic rock columns skirted about the perimeter. Within their vicinity was the only source of light in this entire sphere of existence.

Unable to accurately see what it was, Nova reckoned she needed an actual vantage point. Picking a broken siege tank nearby, she began climbing it. Physical activities were stressing her joints far more than she would like, and her body protested greatly. She paid it no heed, and soon found herself atop the shattered contraption, peering at the light source. It was nothing like she had ever laid eyes upon. The form radiated light so dense and bright that one could pinpoint where the glow started and ended. It curved and turned, depicting the intricacies of a humanoid form. There was a pair of wings, dowsed in intense flames, covering the front of the figure, covering it from sight.

It didn't take any more to tell Nova exactly who it was.

She tried to call out, but was unable to. Despite her mind's resilience, her body was starting to give way. Excess physical exertions straight after such an accident had left it void of energy. In fact, it was a miracle she was still breathing. Her spine should have exploded on impact, yet she was still moving. It was clear that the psionic cushion she emitted before landing saved her life, but it didn't do it good enough to save her internal organs. She, as the silent and insignificant speck of dust in this barren junkyard, was of no importance. Her eyes began to flash, and her mind was fading fast. Her legs gave way, as Nova slowly collapsed on her knees. At the corner of her eyes, she could see Ouros gigantic form appearing before the marvellous being of light.

She saw those wings parted in indifference, revealing some stunning female features. Within moments of conversation, the being erupted into a flaming angel. Nova's eyes demanded to be close, as her entire body fell to one side. All of her consciousness and power was allocating to keeping these eyes half-open. Just like in a dream, the angel turned to her with wings outstretched. The pain had already gone, precisely because she was no longer capable of registering it. The only thing on her mind now was that fiery beauty, so grand and towering. Even then, the image of that angel began to grow larger. It didn't make sense, but Nova could no longer keep those eyes open for any longer. Soon, she was left alone to her thoughts. She was to die here, disappointingly.

Blackness.

In this emptiness, her mind raced back to the memories of all those months ago. She and Kerrigan learnt of a plan construed by the Protoss to take back Aiur. Kerrigan herself, having been informed of Amon's plans, elected to come to Ulnar with the zerg forces in order to fend off the incoming hybrid invasion. Nova implored to join, but her involvement was strictly refused. In a moment of heated argument, the two parted ways. The Queen of Blades carried off her plans as she said, and the Terran operative returned to Mar Sara. The Swarm no longer welcomed her among its ranks, and the Dominion would rather her die after Nova's confrontation with Jim Raynor. She had stayed in secluded stasis until learning of the Alliance's victory. To her surprise, Kerrigan was nowhere to be found. Out of sheer impulse, she had travelled here for that mission. Now, so close to that home stretch, she had the rug pulled from under her. She silently cursed Ouros. Still, deep within, she blamed Kerrigan for not having rescued her from these dark depths.

It was at this moment that she prepared herself to give up. However, Nova's conscious remained reluctantly. It was strange, and she hadn't the littlest idea as to what was taking so long. The ruptures in her insides should've killed her by now, but they hadn't. She was not feeling the pain, but it wasn't because of the numbness. A warmth overwhelmed her. The life that had been sapped was now slowly returning. Nova could breathe again. She concentrated on moving her fingers. They moved. Her legs also moved. Her eyes, finally, opened again.

Before her was the great angel from what seemed like a life time ago. Those eyes were staring straight into her soul. Those brows were bent and full of worry. Those lips were warped into a reserved frown. They wanted to say something, but didn't. Averting her eyes a bit lower, that entire goddess form opened up to her. A ray of red light connected them, feeding Nova's life force. She could finally get up without much fuss, and stared back.

"Sarah," Nova exclaimed.

The angel focused her eyes. Her lips curled up into a gentle smile.

"I'm glad you're safe." Kerrigan didn't need to speak. She uttered those words telepathically, but even that wasn't necessary. Her eyes said everything.

"You saved me." This suspensions of disbelief could only last so long. Nova could feel her strength returning, and that was good enough.

"I'm sorry." The angel reached down and turned an open hand. "Please let me explain."

Nova didn't say anything, instead simply climbing to Kerrigan's palm. Despite the flames, she did not feel the least uncomfortable. This was the fire of life, she thought, not of something as mundane as burning oxygen. There wasn't even any oxygen here. Kerrigan carried her back to the centre, where Ouros still stayed.

"You've made it." The ancient xel'naga's voice echoed within Nova's head.

"No thanks to you." Having been that close to death, she felt strange to be so unserious about it. Even then, the happiness swirling up inside her didn't allow for any negativity.

"I apologise for the drop." The fleshy mounds on Ouros face formed a regretful look. "I'm not as fast as I used to be."

"That's unimportant," Nova conceded. She was still alive and well, and she came here for answers. She turned to the angel. "Sarah, how did this," a pause as she took another good look at the fiery wings, "happened?"

"I have become a xel'naga." Kerrigan's words weighed heavily. "It was necessary to defeat Amon."

"Ok." Nova was still trying to wrap her head around this fact. She temporarily had no suggestions, and more context would be needed. "Why are you still here in the void?"

"Let me." Ouros turned to the depths beneath them. "With the death of Amon, the void has become unstable. In order to maintain the balance between these gateways, a guardian must be ever present. This has been the Fallen One's job for thousands of millennia, but he is no more. Such, this now falls on the shoulders of the Queen."

"Why can't you do it?" Unlikely for that to be a solution, but to Nova everything was worth a try.

"I have given practically all of my power." Nova turned to Kerrigan, who could only nod. "I exist as but a hollow shell of consciousness."

"So if it weren't for her being here, the void would collapse?" Another nod. "What would happen then?"

"The unstable anomaly will cause a galactic rupture." Ouros, the giant tentacle slug that he seemed, held some resentment in those words. "As all the other xel'naga in this galaxy has been killed, only Kerrigan held enough power to delay this."

"Delay?" Nova narrowed her eyes.

"Eventually, more xel'naga will find their way here in an effort to continue the cycle." Ouros was now moving toward the edge platforms, while the other two stayed in the middle. "Only then will the Queen's responsibility be lifted, as the void returns to order."

"When will this happen?" Nova continued her questions.

"At least several aeons from now." Those words were sharp and they cut deep. Nova turned her head to Kerrigan, who obviously knew of all this beforehand. It made sense to her now why Kerrigan couldn't return, and there was a very good chance that Nova had come all the way here for nothing.

"And I won't be around then." Nova sighed. She thought better. She knew better as well. If there was another way, the two xel'nagas before her would have thought of it by now.

"I'm sorry, Nova." The angel's voice was a substitute for the tears she could no longer cry.

"Don't call me that." Those words were cold but not distant.

"Anna." Their eyes met, and softened slowly. Nova could feel hers moistened. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright." She wiped it away. "If you can't leave, I'll just stay here instead."

"We both know that can't be done." Deep down, Nova knew this. Her mind tried to rationalise, but it had been obvious from the start that there was nothing rational about all of this. "The fact that you even came looking for me is enough to make me happy."

Nova had no words. She simply looked down. Kerrigan's form was a translucent crimson, and beneath that was the unending darkness. It was all they could see.

"Pardon me, my queen," Ouros spoke, requesting their attention. "The time is up."

"What?" Nova peered about confused. "Why so little?"

"The manifestation of your form in this realm is feeding from what's left of my power." That made sense to her, at least. It would explain why she no longer had her weapons. "I am drained. You must go."

"No, not yet," Nova protested, but it was too late.

"Goodbye, Anna," Kerrigan said those words with her lips this time, curving those into a pained smile. "I love you."

"Wait!"

Darkness.


	4. Chapter 4

**_Three weeks._**

* * *

IV

Nova lay motionless.

Pointed stones dug at her back, along with the bulky contour of her laser rifle. Limbs outstretched, she stared into space. Everywhere she stare at would be space, except for the floating continent she was on top of right now, but that would require moving her head. She could not tell for how long she had been here. There was no concept of relative Terran time here in the void, and she had smashed her scouter in a fit of rage some time before. She had not done a single thing since then, except collapsing backward. It was not because she couldn't; she simply didn't want to. In her defence, she was exhausted. Most of her energy was used up just getting to this end of the rock platform, and the rest was spent trying to hold back the tidal waves in her core.

Another undefined length of time passed.

Nova lifted her right hand and stared at it. She wondered about the things she should be doing once she managed to get back. As eventual starvation and boredom arrived, she would leave no doubt. There was little point in staying here and rotting away. She thought briefly of her past, of the manners of which she was treated before the joining of the Nova Squadron. A trying time in her life, surely, but woefully forgettable. Even after working under the Confederacy, she never managed to carve herself a future. Few people existed who thought the war would end in their lifetimes, and Nova wasn't one of them. She had thought of her future as day by day work for the agency, until one day she would slip up and caught, promptly executed soon after. It was a soldier's death, and one she expected. Reality had a twisted sense of retribution, she always thought, but never like this.

Then, Nova settled her arm back down again. She no longer had any connection left in the Dominion. That didn't mean it would be hard for her to get a job, of course, a high position one even. Someone of her abilities would be instantly propelled to at most two steps below the supreme ruler. She was reminded of Valerian, who was then assuming direct control. Once the Terran get their colonies back together, it would be peace again. She wondered what kind of task fate would hold for her then. She had no plans except bringing back Kerrigan, and that had already sunk. Her lips contorted at that notion. The image of the former Queen of Blades still haunted every corner of her mind, and most likely for a very long time to come. It wasn't fair, she swore under her breath. Even not taking into account their relationship, Kerrigan had already sacrificed so much for this idiotic war. Now that it had finished, she would still remain as the last casualty, trapped for eons under a flimsy guise of eventual rescue. It may happen, Nova admitted, but then Kerrigan would simply not proceed any further than as a part of the xel'naga. All of the aspirations, needs, and emotions would be for naught. The Queen of Blades would have then outlived everything she could have ever cared about, and will disappear into deep space, without so much as the ability to complain.

Her eyes glanced at the broken pieces of the scouter still wrapped within her left hand. It was still flickering weakly. She didn't simply destroyed it in sheer frustration, as she had a good idea that it was no longer functioning properly. Despite her having toned down all her psionic exertions, it was still showing readings through the roof. As she had been residing on a barren wasteland, this was obviously a malfunction. At this precise moment, however, Nova was no longer so sure. Narrowing her eyes to study the reading once again, on a little piece of screen still stuck the base, she could tell the direction of the power. This was odd, since her previous assumption was that her own powers had overloaded the scanner somehow and made it unusable. This could be easily check. Focusing, Nova used telekinesis to lift up a nearby piece of rubble. To her surprise, the scanner responded accurately to this shift in psychic energy. After a few more tests, she was then convinced it was accurate.

Whether it was a spark of hope of just unabashed curiosity, Nova stood up. Being down in the dirt was boring anyway, and she certainly could use something to distract her from this unending sense of dread she had been feeling since landing back on here. There was no real direction to be seen on a land mass like this, but an all-encompassing radar was the best thing to have. Conveniently enough, the source of this power showed to be also relatively close to where she was returned. This would explain why she didn't pick it up during her initial landing into the void. As her paced quickened, the clarity of the reading also picked up. This was the last confirmation she needed, before sprinting forward with great haste.

Past the mountains of discarded junk and ruined robotics, sat a large clearing by the edge of the earth. This was, naturally, a surprise. Such a thing could not be serendipitously created, and thus must have a cause. In the middle of this clearing was a dark pit, at the edge of which she could see burn marks and what could only be described as dried slime. The pit was a few times the size of a siege tank, and was not a circular one. Instead, it took the shape of a crushed ellipse, as if a giant being one resided in it. Circling the drop, she took a few samples of substance for eye examination. Nova regretted destroying the scouter, but it was too late now. It could still read data, but the display being mostly broken meant that there would be no good information coming out of the thing. From what she could see, however, this general area had not been collecting dust as much as its surrounding. Something must have been here for the longest time, and had only been removed recently. There was little in her report she obtained from the returning pilots that could explain this. Frustrated, she threw a pebble down the pit.

A screech of utmost agony erupted.

Nova threw herself back. She covered her ears, but realised that it wasn't helping. After the initial confusion, it became clear to her that this was not actual sound. Instead, yet another creature capable of telepathy was screaming from the bottom of this dark hole. It wasn't that much of a surprise, as something like that explained the reading perfectly. It was a mystery as to what it was, however.

"Stop!" she shouted, sound and all. She was afraid transmitting through telepathy would expose her mental state to the screaming, and that wasn't desirable. The intense wailing ceased at this point.

"Who?" More telepathy. The words were of slithering chill, causing Nova to sweat. Hearing no immediate answer, it repeated. "Who?"

She wondered if she should answer truthfully or not. It didn't sound like the most trustworthy thing, and it obviously didn't belong to any of the factions.

"I'll tell you when you tell me yours," she bargained.

"Insolent pest!" The voice growled. "How dare you speak frank of me?"

This only made her even more suspicious. She looked around one last time ton confirm that the creature was indeed trapped within the hole, or the equivalent of such.

"No use being upset. It's not going to help you." She could feel the sass slowly creeping back. It was sad, but it was hers.

"No matter." The thing seemed to have calmed down after much deliberation. "You, tell me the tale of my master."

"Your master?" Nova craned an eyebrow.

"Are you perhaps daft?" The creature had absolutely no respect. "I am, of course, speaking of Amon the Truth-bringer. I presume you're sent here by him to awaken me."

Nova stood still and absorbed this information, and thought about what to say next. She searched from memory something that worked for Amon, but also possessed free will and this much raw power. There was only one answer.

"Narud." She spoke lightly.

"My name is not for you to defile." That was as good a confirmation as she could get. "Hurry and relay the information."

"Well, Narud." Nova could hear the disgruntled growls in response to her poke. "I'm sorry to tell you that your master had been defeated."

"I have no time for jokes," Narud hissed. "No matter. I'll just pull it out of you."

Presently, Nova felt a burning grip grabbing at her mind. It caught her off guard, as the ethereal hand clutched at her minds and tore off her memories. By the time she had her guard up, Narud had already gotten what he wanted.

"You survived," He mused. "No matter. Let's see what kind of lies you're spouting."

An uncomfortable pause.

"And?" Nova was still recovering from that mind spike.

"Preposterous." If Narud could shout, it would be heard from across the void. "This cannot be. The great Amon could not have been beaten so easily!"

"Yeah I'm going to leave you to your denial." Nova flared up a psionic shield, just in case Narud tried another attack out of spite. He didn't seem to pay too much attention to her, however, and kept on screaming bloody murder in his pit.

"Wait!" Reality seemed to have set in, as Narud called out to her. "Help me, and I can give you what you want."

"That tone of yours changed really fast." She could not deny her curiosity, however. "What are you talking about?"

"I can help you get Kerrigan back." That statement came out of left field. Narud, having accessed all her memories, would have been aware of her recent ordeals. Despite knowing this, such a proposal still gave her quite a shock. "You want that wouldn't you?"

"I would never trust a treacherous swine like you." Narud's, as himself and Duran, misdeeds and betrayals were well known. Even then, she had to admit there was temptation. "Even were I to say yes, what exactly could you do?"

"Despite Stukov's destruction of my body, my energy reside here still." Nova could confirm that. "As it happens, you are one of the very few being with enough power to act as a host for it."

"You mean to turn me into a xel'naga like Kerrigan." She contemplated this possibly. A xel'naga's power could manage a lot of things. Worst case scenario, she could at least stay here for as long as she desired.

"Precisely." An agreeable terms, as much as she could expect from Narud either way.

"What do you get out of it?" She was screaming at herself not to engage any further, but nothing came out of it.

"I want my prisoner, Ouros." There was a certain amount of hate within the tone. "After you're finished, I'll assume his body as my own."

"So you want me to help resurrect you?" Nova was certainly not dropping the deal straight. "What do you plan to do afterward?"

"I'll stay here and keep the Void stable. I will not interfere with your life." Nova knew what he meant. If this could return Kerrigan to human, the two of them could at most live another century. Narud would just be biding his time until then, before whichever sinister plot he held would be executed. She personally could not care if it didn't affect her, however.

"How could I trust your words?" Always a reasonable caveat.

"If I did not personally maintain the void, its destruction would vaporise me as well." Nova deemed that a convincing argument. "Believe me, human, you'd be long dead before the galaxy will face the wrath of my true return."

"You're not even denying it I see?" She smirked. She imagined that if Narud had a physical form, he would be doing the same thing.

"No reason to beat around the bush. My notoriety has far surpassed my deception." His voice rang true.

Nova leant back, arms crossed before her chest. This was the chance she was looking for, the ability to take this matter into her own hands. No one would approve of this method, and if it backfired she had no one but herself to blame. Furthermore, Narud the Betrayer was involved, and he had never shown loyalty to anyone but Amon. Amon was dead, however, and perhaps his selfishness could be taken advantage of to her ends.

"As it turns out, Narud." She puts her hands behind her. "I am in need of your service after all."

"Splendid." A dire tone. "Come to me."

Such an obviously ludicrous suggestion, but Nova had gone this far. Stepping forward, she faced the blackness of the pit. The xel'naga's body, if even that, was at the bottom of it. Sighing, she took a deep breath, and dove.


	5. Chapter 5

_**It's the current year.**_

* * *

V

Nova fell.

There was no gravity this deep in space, but that didn't stop her from falling. She could no longer see the platform from which she leapt. Perhaps this was the last thing she would do. A waste, she thought briefly. She may die when her body finally hit something, or stay falling forever into the vast black hole of the void. Either way, no one will miss her, so a fine conclusion nevertheless for everyone else.

It was funny to her. As a professional soldier, she had always imagined her end being a bit more dramatic. Perhaps a failed assassination leading to her execution, as she expected to have taken place months prior, or dying on the battlefield crushed beneath a spacecraft. All of these possibilities had, at one point, seemed far more likely than the endless dive she was experiencing. Nova had already conceded her life to the line of fire long ago, living for the sake of the thrill of the hunt. Some said she was selfish, but what sort of ulterior motive could anyone who was caught in the crossfire of this galactic war even afford?

Things changed.

Nova came to a harsh stop. There was no physical blockade, but her body became dead stiff in the middle of a perceived trajectory. A sense of dread coursed through her, as with the smell of death and decay. There was air here, as little as that was, and her suit was reacting to it. Flipping on the wrist torch, she could see the untold mounds of flesh in nearly all directions. Inexplicable amounts of jumbled, smouldering organ pieces populated the scene, as if severed violently from a gigantic hideous creature, parts of which they once were.

"Welcome." Narud's voice rung in her ears. "Excuse the mess."

"No mercy," Nova commented. This titanic body belonged to the dead xel'naga, which would explain the properties of non-space. "What am I doing here?"

"You don't have to do anything." The voice was as sinister as ever. "You just have to not resist."

After a brief thought, she conceded the last bit of her agency. Letting down her guard, Nova closed her eyes. A subtle stream of blue energy spawned from beneath the depths and paced its way towards her. She began to emit a glowing orange light, which slowly engulfed her form. From the edges of her limb, a twinkling jade of cold blue corroded away her worldly contour. She felt nothing but an incomparable tranquillity, far from the hasty, gut-wrenching force she had predicted. The sense of quivering terror that accompanied the decision of exposure was being calmly quenched under the graceful azure. Nova could tell she was being removed from her own mortal attachments. Her consciousness flowed freer than ever before, as the aeons of power finished its consumption, before collapsing upon itself. From the wreckage of a once fallen god, rose the sprawling magnificence of a new birth.

Nova emerged from her own self with a daze. There were no words to describe what she was feeling then. She had noticed things being smaller. She had noticed that she could no longer feel the touch of her own skin when she palmed her hand. This surreal experience was only compounded by the fact that she was now literally glowing. It didn't take much for her to realise that she had become a xel'naga the same way Kerrigan had. Rather than the assorted blazing red wings, however, Nova was radiating a softer, colder navy light. She saw herself as a naked foreign apparition, looking at the world as a collection of receptive existence and not reflections of light. The void then became transparent through her, in all of its curves and detractions.

Nova brought her hand forward and touched the corpse of Emil Narud, now a lot less intimidating and identifiable as a serpent-like monster, with the same sort of tentacles of receptors as Ourus. She felt nothing, as expected. Concentrating, a pulse of energy beamed into the decaying flesh, swiftly freezing it and crushed it into hard ice.

"What are you doing?" She could hear Narud screaming in her head.

"Discarding wastes," Nova stated.

"Don't test me, child." His voice was fitted with rage. "I can take away this power at will."

"Be silent, you'll have your day," she assured him, putting an end to the conversation.

With the xel'naga's power, Nova saw the openings in the void clear as day. Just as she would command her psionic abilities, she directed her power into that of propellant, and dashed into the deep void. When she was out in untouched open space, there was no longer anything in the way. Arms reaching into the dark ether, Nova pried herself into the other realm.

As she materialised into the darker plane, she saw exactly what she had wished. Kerrigan was there, yet to leave where they last met. There was a brief moment of confusion between the two, but the silence didn't last long.

"Anna? What are you doing here?" Though their faces were bare and plainly visible, Kerrigan could not help but be taken aback.

"I'm not leaving you here." Now that she had come this far, Nova had absolutely no doubt in her mind that this was what she had to do, regardless of it being right or wrong. "I'm taking you with me."

"You know I can't do that." Kerrigan narrowed her eyes. The thought of Nova coming back shook her resolve greatly, but not enough. "I've already told you what's at stake."

"Though Ouros had you believing there was no one but you who could upkeep the void, I have found another." Nova held a hand to her chest. "This power of mine is from Narud. He could do it."

"Preposterous!" Ouros hissed. He seemed to be no longer content with staying at the side line. "Are you claiming that Narud lives?"

"I live." That unmistakable tone coursed through the boundless space and rang just as far. "This time, I'm not keeping you captive."

"What is it you plan to do, Duran?" Kerrigan was shaking with rekindled rage. She had yet to forget Narud's countless betrayals and treachery.

"Oh you don't have to worry, dear Queen." The mockery in his words dripped with unspeakable ugliness. "You and the girl here can leave. I just want the traitor over there. I need a new body."

"You cannot possibly trust him," Ouros bellowed. He seemed to be fearing for far more than just his own safety. "The deserter knows no loyalty. Even with Amon defeated, there is nothing stopping him from bringing an even greater evil to threaten the cycle in due time."

"That may be true, but I couldn't care less." Nova was determined to show that she wasn't here to pull punches. Even if she were to put up all her cards on the table, it wouldn't matter. "I only want Sarah."

"I can't let you do this, Anna." Kerrigan took a stance. She didn't think that it would ever come to this, but she was absolutely not convinced that they could even put faith on Narud even letting them go once he had claimed Ouros. "I'd love nothing more than leaving this place with you, but Narud cannot be trusted. There's nothing stopping him from just killing all of us once everything's said and done!"

"I know that." Nova's features darkened. Her smile flashed of solemn torture, unfolding for an eternity. "But I'd rather risk damnation than losing you, forever knowing that I had a chance."

For an astonishing moment, Kerrigan found that words had completely failed her. If that declaration wasn't a pronounce for gravely sympathetic and undying devotion, nothing else was. She could not blame Nova for putting the universe itself in jeopardy for the sake of their union. On the other hand, she knew Narud too well to truly believe that his good will was something on which they could count.

"I'm sorry." She moved between Nova and Ouros. "I cannot let you do this, even if I have to stop you myself."

"If I didn't know you, I'd say this was unexpected." Nova clutched her fist. She hadn't the chance to actually test out her newfound ancient powers, but it was no deterrent to her will. "I'll just have to take you by force."

The flames burst out of Kerrigan's angelic form even fiercer than before. She had yet to use this much power since the fight against Amon, but she knew that any less would not be a worthy battle. Nova, on the other hand, simply stared back with those gleaming blue eyes. The cold irradiating from her chilling touch was concentrated on those slender fingertips. In a moment, both of them stretched their arms outward, unleashing beams of blinding orange and blue that immediately overwhelmed the atmosphere. They clash at the middle and stayed in struggle, neither willing to give up an inch of ground. This ludicrous exertion of energy only climbed in scale as the two poured more and more power into the blast, hoping to eventually conquer the other. It was not to be, however, as the situation could only be described as evenly matched. After a solid minute of nothing but condensed energy output, the two broke off into their own side. Seeing the futility of this act, Kerrigan stooped down and prepared for close-quarter combat. Despite both being ethereal being, the pure energy nature of their bodies allowed interactions, and perhaps even adequate overpowering.

Nova, however, was the one who threw the first strike. She opened with a swift, acrobatic series of blows, which was predictably dodged by feints. The two were trained under the same regiment under operative scrutiny, and knew each other's styles inside-out. Despite this, the lack of gravity that they're fighting on meant that their martial art was of diminishing usefulness. Even then it was still the most efficient way to fight without resulting to energy beams again. Hands blazing, Kerrigan went on the offensive with committed ferocity. Extending and retracting the fire at will, she went for the abdomen to deal the most crippling but non-threatening damage. Nova pivoted away, yet still feel the heat crossing a bit too close to her hips. She retaliated with a vulture click circling up. This proved to be a mistaken, as Kerrigan easily grabbed the leg before clutching it and threw her opponent into a nearby floating rock formation. The landing carved a giant crater into the unfortunate thing, but Nova was quick to recover. As they were not mortal beings, they could not be hurt per se. However, combat at this calibre was draining their energy rapidly, and they would have nothing left if that well were to dry up.

"I remember when we used to do this." Nova felt the surged of combat taking over. "It were never quite as close though."

"I don't want to fight, please," Kerrigan implored. She knew it was for naught, however. Neither of them had pulled a punch thus far.

"I guess this is up to fate then."

Presently, they went at it again. Trading blows at inhuman speed, no spectator could claim this as anything but a battle of the gods. The two went at each other with such tremendous intensity, which could even be interpreted as killing intent with every attack. It was not to stay an even fight for long, as Nova's inexperience with control of her own power was becoming a burden. She could not match the strength of the fire imbued in her opponent's every attack, and was taking additional hits left and right. For ever two successful block, one would get through and stumble her form. Soon she could no longer afford to be on the offensive, and the fire angel was taking over the fight with ruthless and calculated strikes. Desperate, Nova went for an all-out attack, neglecting all defence for a chance to push both hands forward, and unleashed a close range ray of energy. This action proved to be clumsy, and was easily eluded. Ceasing this opportunity, Kerrigan delivered a full force blow to the chest, sending her opponent flying backward without brakes. No longer with any significant power, Nova crashed hard onto the platform below. Kerrigan didn't let up the pursuit, delivering a relentless assault on the downed opponent until there was no longer a sign of resistance.

"I guess this is it." Nova chuckled harshly, her voice pained with extraneous regret and powerlessness.

"Anna," Kerrigan surely didn't feel like the victor. "Please leave."

"You know I love you too much for that." Nova's smile didn't fade.

"We can't do this forever." Kerrigan released a sigh that was as resigned as it was frustrated.

"I don't plan to."


	6. Chapter 6

_**January**_

* * *

VI

Kerrigan twitched in reaction to the movement of her opponent's hands, but was caught off guard to see the motion so gradual. Nova's hands rise while her torso didn't. Those lingering fingers, strapped with remorse and burden, reached for the angel's fiery cheeks. In her hands, she felt a dewy scarlet warmth, soothing a languorous caress. Kerrigan's grip loosened slightly, shocked at that cold grin leering from oblivion. She had no clue as to which the proper response to this should be, but she understood fully what her urges were. Fighting back the last of her human emotions, she resumed the pin. That didn't stop her consciousness taking in the lustrous, bare form of her beauteous lover pressed firmly against the rocky surface. The more their form remained motionless, the more her proverbial heart raced and drummed by the sheer close vicinity of that which she screamed of earnest yearning during those lonely nights.

Nova, on the other hand, had no trouble. Her right arm stretched forward, intertwined in the blazing hair stream of the angel, while her left tucked itself right beneath the arm. These arms reversed, and began to draw the two of them closer. Despite the unrelenting force of the fire angel's pin on her chest, Nova could easily tell it was not real resistance. She smiled of the most genuine satisfaction, inevitably piquing the other party's internet.

"What is it?" Asked Kerrigan, still at a loss as to how things were developing.

"I've always regretted not being able to be your first." An absolutely unrelated yet infinitely throbbing subject. "At least I can be content knowing that I'm the only one who could ever touch you like this."

"Anna." It was not possible for Kerrigan to blush. The fire would mask it well even if she did. "We were fighting just a moment ago."

"I've always enjoyed being pummelled by you." Nova enjoyed a hearty laugh, earning herself a glare of disapproval. "I may have a problem."

"You're still joking at a time like this." It was scarcely believable given the state which their relationship went on hold when they had last separated. Compared to now, the problems they held back then seemed so insignificant. "What am I supposed to do about you?"

"You've done enough."

At this point, Nova simply closed the distance between them with a tug of her arms. Kerrigan, in the midst of the confusion, had lost her grip on the situation, and was then being dragged along. Neither of them had the ability to truly feel the touch, but a connection at this level of energy was more raw and fierce than anything human skin was capable of simulating. For this split second, she was overwhelmed.

The two bodies seemed to have melted into one another at contact. A fusion of great conflict of polarity caused a spark within the air space. There was an explosion of colours, more powerful than any could imagined. The blaze that would not, and could not, be stilled held firm under the immense pressure that might just collapse into a transcendent flame. It was at this moment that, despite the silky tenderness experience that she was immersing in, Kerrigan realised there was something wrong. The spark between them was beginning to turn duller. She felt her energy being sapped away under this increasingly oppressive hold. She turned and struggled, but was only met with the titanic force of the savage choke that was the crushing embrace.

"Anna!" She protested to no avail. Her guard was dropped, and she had to face the consequence.

"I'm sorry," Nova calmly replied while applying even more force.

"Stop." Kerrigan became weaker. Her energy was being sapped at an alarming rate and there was little she could do about it. Regardless of the strength put into the struggling, all these effort became futile in the end. "Please."

Nova had no plan to listen. After an extra minute of wailing under the ruptured dam that was her life force, the Queen could no longer afford to put up any more attempts at freeing herself. Consumed into the blank, blue void, Kerrigan disappeared into it. It was not long before she rematerialised into the world, but no longer the being of immense power at her fingertips. Instead it was the form of a helpless Terran woman, expunged of her strength and will, laying unconsciousness on top of Nova's titanic body. It was the blue giantess' power that Kerrigan wasn't immediately crushed under the tremendous gravity.

"No!" Screeched Ouros. Having given up all of his powers, he had to watch the battle without any ability to interfere. It was then that his own mortality was beginning to weight upon his perception.

"Excellent!" Narud's voice emerged from the ephemeral realm. It was hard to imagine someone like him could have ever had any emotion but great condescension and anger, but he sounded quite pleasantly surprised. "You've managed it at last. No small feat, I must admit."

"Save your breath," Nova cut him off. Moving from a flat position to a kneeling position, she began to exert power into the polarity of the platform. This gave sufficient pull to the earth, creating a similar sanitised environment commonly seen on that of Mar Sara. Deeming her preparation adequate, Nova turned to Ouros. She didn't say a word, however.

"Will you now bring out my end?" There were some amusement in watching a giant xel'naga struggle with his own mortality, especially when he's helpless to stop it. "You have to finish your deal, yes?"

"Even if I were to say no, there's nothing stopping Narud from doing it himself." Those words were delivered cold as ice. Despite her constant reminder that there was only one person here worthy of her attention, the attention to ruthless soul crushing was a thing of beauty. "Do your worst, demon."

"With pleasure."

A beam of light emitted from Nova's core. The reverse transformation was quick, and Narud was eager to have his prey. A wave of smoky dark energy burst forth from their position and headed straight for Ouros. Despite the desperate cries, nothing could have been done. With great gusto, Narud mercilessly devoured the very core of his prey. A straight penetration of the essence soon resulted in yet another transformation, this one promised to be the last. As if reconstructing Ouros' body from inside out, the Fallen had its architectural hand ravaging every nook and cranny, causing bulges to surface front and back. When it seemed like the carcass could no longer take it, another freely tore itself out of the original. Emerged was Narud in his finest physical form yet. The trademark Xel'naga voracious tentacles were complemented by the humongous serpent-like body he was proudly brandishing. Claws and fangs glared menacingly from every corner, and the radiating energy was that of a thousand contained suns.

Nova, having just recovered from having a great energy expunged out of her, was struggling to get a good look at the situation. Feeling her own skin, she recognised that she had returned to her original form before undergoing the metamorphosis, clothes and all. Her arms quickly went to Kerrigan's limp body, and had it up by her shoulder. She eyed the situation that just unfolded before her, before turning around and walking away.

"Leaving so soon?" Narud's insufferable screech, now more physical than ever, indicated they weren't going anywhere fast.

"Yes." Nova managed the most nonchalant voice possible. If anything she would like to leave this place to just dress Kerrigan back in some proper clothes, something she believed hadn't been used on the Queen in a while. "I'd appreciate no interruption."

"Come now, girl. We both knew this was to come." Narud, in all of his fearsome glory, was to spell the end of her mission, and she knew she let him.

"What's wrong with waiting another hundred or so years?" Nova was trying to reason with the beast, but she knew it was for likely naught. "It would just be the speck of dust in time for you."

"Be that as it may, I'm not one for it." The serpent's gigantic, lengthy neck was reaching to right behind her. The slithering of its tongue could be heard to cause revulsion in the minds of those unlucky enough to be within range. "If you humans have taught me anything, it would be timing."

"I see." Nova turned around, facing the slanted eyes of the giant serpent. "What is it that you plan to do after this?"

"What Amon planned to, of course." Narud sounded awfully pleased himself, understandably so. "With the prophecy fulfilled and the Queen of Blades dead, there shall be no more obstacles to stand in my way. There will be total eradication."

"I see." Vaulting Kerrigan's body and held it with just one arm, Nova reached for the laser blaster stashed at her side. "To tell you the truth, I didn't even have much of a problem with that plan of yours, up until you mentioned killing Sarah of course."

"And of course you think you can stop me." The mockery was not lost. "What can you possibly do, let alone strapped with an invalid?"

Nova didn't answer. She raised her gun to Narud's sneering expression. It only made his smile wider. She pulled the trigger, causing the combustion power core to fail catastrophically, propelling a guided laser ray of pinpoint accuracy aimed straight at the head of the monster. To Narud, it was no more than a tiny pointer waved wildly at his general direction. He bore his fangs to laugh, only to found himself unable. Cringing terror overtook him at that sudden and awful epiphany. The beam, in all of its unapologetic disregard, pierced straight past his titanic armoured skin and through his head, all the way out and into his extended neck. The damage was precise and critical, as the head of the serpent began losing hold and succumb to gravity. The result collision was large and unsightly, as the thousands of tonnes of flesh crashed straight into solid ground. Indistinct off-coloured ooze began to protrude out of the miniscule holes.

Nova stood still for a moment. The gun in her hand had disintegrated, and it was lucky she wasn't consumed with it during the fusion failure. It was equally lucky such a one-shot blast even fired off at all. An experimental weapon as it was, there were no expectations on it actually working.

Nova didn't think it worked either.

From the serpent's mouth began a tear. At first it was a barely observable small rip, only then to hastily slit into larger chunks. This gash widened largely the further down the sides of the body it went. Violent sounds of laceration accompanied the appearance of large, dark gaps along the tear line, positively shaking the air with savage fury. At this point, Nova had already begun running. It was a rather futile effort, as observed, for she has no ability to get out of the deep void without wielding the power of a xel'naga. She was simply trying to get as far away from the moulting beast as possible.

From inside the lifeless husk of the serpent, sprouted another just like it, wrestling its way out of the old body. This was done with gnawing bites and hateful brutality. It was not until the Narud could pry himself properly out of the old body, now lay flat and discarded. The new serpent body had layers of scaled as thick and sharp as its own teeth, sprawled out of necessity. It was smaller than before, but only more agile and deadly in comparison. Nova stared at the monster palpable fear in her eyes; sweat beads dampening her combat suit. Her then position was a cover behind a large boulder, though it was doubtful that was going to help. It was doubtful anything was going to help at all.

"A good shot, admittedly." Narud turned his slimy head at the only other living beings still populating this realm. He began slithering towards them, then without any room to run. "Too bad you won't get another one."

"Go to hell." Nova poured a remarkable amount of hatred into those last words.

Without a response to give, the giant serpent exposed its dripping crevice of fangs and acid before striking, taking the entire area, boulders and scraps all, into its mouth. Presently, it swallowed it all.


	7. Chapter 7

_**Another one**_

* * *

VII

The trail of cold steel slid across her back. It was good news, she thought. Her plan of hiding inside nearby debris was somewhat fruitful, and she wasn't crushed to death.

Presently, Nova felt warmth all over her body. The moment she regained consciousness, it was obvious these were pools of blood splattered across her tattered body. There was a sense of touch to the sides of her cheeks, however. A salty droplet rolled across the bridge of her nose, dropped from above. Unable to move, she focused energy on opening her eyes. Her wavering eyes made out a slender form, slumped beside her, arms outstretched to the side of her face. A wry smile crept onto her face, until she realised Kerrigan's expression wasn't that which she had expected.

"Sarah?" Her voice was hoarse and pained, and sounded foreign even to her.

Kerrigan did not answer. As Nova's eye sight slowly returned to normal, she could observe those emerald eyes stare with boundless fury. This was when she noticed Kerrigan's hands wrapping around her neck, stiffened and also shaking with every passing second. A sense of primal fear coursed through her, forming beads of sweat. Another glance revealed Kerrigan's coiling, punctured lips. An air of wanton and brutal savagery radiated from those quaking limbs.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't snap your neck right now."

Those words passed through scowling, trembling lips, and communicated such depth and intensity. Nova gulped inadvertently, knowing that were her response deemed unsatisfactory, she'll be killed, and not in the least merciful manner. Her pulverised body allow for no chance of retaliation, and Kerrigan was not someone who could be fooled.

"I'm sorry." Nova could not find better words. At this point, she fully expected to hear the cracks of the collarbones, and witness her beating heart ripped out of her chest as retribution. She knew she deserved it.

Kerrigan's trail of tears had gone dry. The kind of murderous aura she was projecting was a far cry from that during their friendly spar just moments prior. It was that of a stone-cold assassin, just as she was raised. "How could you deceive me like this?"

"I needed Narud to get to you, but it meant that we could not talk frank without him interfering." Nova was aware that an attempt to explain herself would have been far more effective had her plan actually worked. Nevertheless, there's nothing wrong with an old fashioned try. "I didn't mean for it to turn out this way."

These were the first answers Kerrigan received. Despite them being woefully inadequate, the atmosphere cooled down significantly as she pondered over the perspective. "But you did mean to betray my trust in the middle of battle."

"Yes." Nova did her best to sound apologetic, for apologetic she was.

As Kerrigan's grip loosened around her neck, she sighed in relief. Due to this, it came as a great surprise when she felt a fiery, destructive force hitting violently across the broad side of her face. It was so strong that her cheeks instantly became numb, her ears began to ring and her vision clouded. The vermillion pain spread swiftly across her nervous system, as the sting forced her to exhale and whine in suffering.

Presently, the shock passed away, and Nova coiled her body in ineffective defence. Kerrigan had little problems prying open the flailing arms, and pulled her up by the collar. At this point, Nova had just enough focus to notice Kerrigan's and her own eroded clothing, and how they wrapped around the bloodied bodies of the two women. It became apparent to her that Kerrigan suffered no less injuries from the debris than she, but here they were. In an instant Kerrigan moved forward, and Nova closed her eyes instinctively, preparing for another hit.

With great astonishment, she felt no immediate pain. In this bewildering moment, she felt her lips aggressively captured. No mind nor strength to resist, Nova gave into the swollen, blissful pinnacle of rapture. She could feel Kerrigan's breath hitting her skin in a rush of torturous mixed emotions. She, right then, was forced to reflect on her own brittle and unalterable mortality. Fierce, raging, yet hopeless passion boiled within their shared molten core, until ruthlessly pulled apart.

"From now on, we're doing this my way." Kerrigan let Nova go. She moved her arms as if to wipe off her lips, but decided against it. Instead, grabbing hold of what's left of her terribly unfit and ragged attire, she stood up straight. There were cuts and bruises all across her back and leg, suffered from the collapse.

"Sarah," Nova called out, regaining her thinking capacity; the sensation of the utter sublime and teary regrets has yet to leave her lips. "I'm sorry."

"I know." The murderous pressure had completely cleared up at this point. However, the air was still cold. It was unclear whether this was due to a self-defence mechanism, or Kerrigan finally taking matters seriously. "Where are we?"

"After Narud devoured Ouros, he underwent a transformation. I tried to kill him to no avail." Nova thought to herself as to how not to make the context out of place. "He then proceeded to eat us."

"I see." Kerrigan peered about. They were inside a broken Terran transport ship, as far as she could make out. The corpses of previous passengers had dissipated at this point, but there were still a great deal of equipment left. "What exactly was your plan? How exactly does killing Narud solve anything?"

"When Narud and I fused, our histories and personalities became one." Nova slowly climbed up to her feet as she spoke. "I was informed of everything he knew, and he did mine."

Kerrigan took a moment to process the fact that the fallen xel'naga held the memory of all the times she and Nova spent in private, and subsequently pushed that out of her mind. "Is what he said true then? Would it be fine if he were to be here to manage the void?"

"Yes. Due to this, he'll be stuck here until another xel'naga comes and replaces him." Nova accounted for the memories in her head. Most of them were foreign and wasteful, and she struggled for a brief moment. "If he were to leave, the destabilisation of the void will consume him as well."

"Then what was your plan?" Kerrigan asked, assessing the situation.

"Narud knew something Ouros neglected to tell you." This came as a surprise to Kerrigan. "If we could cut off the connection our galaxy has with the void itself, it matters not what happens here."

"Why would Ouros not tell me this?" The questions continued.

"He means to repeat the cycle." Nova finally got back on her feet. Her wounds have begun to close, though they were still a threat. "Ouros might be your ally, but he never shares your interest."

"So what are you suggesting?" Kerrigan determined that if at this point they were still relatively safe, it would mean that Narud was unaware of their conversation. The plating of this ship will be consumed soon enough, but they had time still.

"We escape, and destroy the portal," Nova responded. Kerrigan could swear her eyes lit up for a moment.

It was a sound and simple plan. The mechanics of universes may be above interference, but they should be able to do this much. The question was where to start. Doing anything would require a weapon, and there weren't a lot of those lying around. Nova had a fusion revolver and a plasma rifle coming in, but both had by then been lost in the exchange. They were now forced to scour about the ship for any helpful equipment. Standard issued marine rifles were a plenty, but it was questionable as to how effective they can be against an ancient monster thousands of times their size.

"Come."

The two of them went up to the front of the ship. Charred carcasses of old crew members could still be found here, at least before they were brushed off the seats.

"How much energy do you have?" Kerrigan began channelling in her reservoir, and found it wanting.

"Not much I don't think." The two of them sat in the pilot seats. "Do you have a plan?"

"We're flying out of here." Kerrigan tucked in the half-ripped seatbelt, signalling Nova to do the same. "The same way we came in."

"Can we really afford to do that?" Nova, beaten and shaken, was less than willing to take such chances. She was obliged to play along, however.

"No choice, no time. We're doing it now."

There needn't be any more words. The two, firmly glued to their seat, began to put forth the kind of psychic unison never before seen. They had no knowledge of how the beast's digestive system worked, or even if it was a digestive system at all.

The engine roared in psychedelic ecstasy at the whirling influx of energy. It blasted off at great haste, leaving behind any last remnants of inactions. Doubts still plagued the hearts, but none was enough to keep the spaceship from thrusting its rockets forward. It collided along the darkness the monster's insides, bits and pieces falling off the edges. The ship kept on still, with the pilot gradually getting used to the kind of layout that would belong to the neck of a giant serpent. The smoothness of the ride did not live long, for a heavy crash halted the vehicle.

"This is either the thing's front or back end, either way we can't just bust out of here." Kerrigan switched on the front lights. Utter darkness still reigned over them.

"If Narud hasn't noticed us before, he would definitely have now," Nova remarked. "I don't think we have the king of strength needed to fight our way out should he keeps resisting."

They had foreseen this hurdle from the beginning. Nothing had yet gone according to plan, and there was no reason to believe this one would. Nova turned to her side to find Kerrigan no longer there. The former Queen of Blades was standing at the opening of the ship, observing for floating debris piled up about. Kerrigan possessed traits of Zerg infestation no longer, but her eyes still shone fierce intent. Every glare expressed a great disdain for the world, sizing it up for complete destruction.

"Anna." Those words cut through the silent air. "I have a plan."

"To get us out of here?" Nova held an incredulous expression.

"More than that." Kerrigan returned to her seat. "I could still sense Ouros' presence."

"Are you sure it's not Narud tricking you?" Nova knew that everyone had been at the receiving end of a dire deal by the xel'naga at least once by now.

"The presence does not speak, merely exists." Kerrigan held her hands to her temples, concentrating on the incoming psychic waves. "Through it, I can sense the metaphysical relative. I know where we are."

"Inside Narud?" Nova found this even more confusing.

"Yes, but he has left the inner void." Kerrigan narrowed her eyes in the state of bad news. "Without his power, it will soon collapse."

"He's trying to escape into our sector!" Nova have finally caught on. The xel'naga's plan was of the path most direct. "If he destroy the portal, it will sever the connection with the void, allowing him to reign as the supreme being."

"And that's not going to happen." Kerrigan settled into the seat, not making a move.

"Does your plan have something to do with this?" Nova's anxiety was apparent.

"When he arrives at Mar Sara, his efforts to destroy the portal will be his downfall." Kerrigan's words slithered through her grinding teeth. "We can then make our eventual escape."

"How do you plan to proceed from there?" Already accepting the suggestion, Nova mirrored her co-pilot. "Narud would still be infinite more powerful than us, and I doubt he's going to let us get away easily."

"It's simple." The brevity signalled this to be the last statement. "I'll kill him."

Nova wiped her neck of sweat, teeth biting down her own lips.


	8. Chapter 8

_**Last**_

* * *

VIII

Ulnar wailed.

The giant serpentine head arose from the swirling portal. Its jaw hung open, bearing rows of fangs. Its roar shook the atmosphere, sending tremors through the earth. Nearby zerg manifestations retreated post-haste, leaving their stranded structures to be ravaged by the incoming tide of obliteration. Meaty tentacles followed suit, sweeping the barren landscape in a fit of wanton destruction. Two more grabbed at the edge of the transitional vortex, and propelled the entire monstrous body out of the void.

Narud laid in brief contemplation, having used up a significant amount of power to traverse the planes. Recognising the danger, he turned to the portal behind him. It had already begun destabilising, threatening to collapse unto the void in a matter of moments. His jaws pried open once more, unleashing an energy blast large enough to consume the gate entirely. In this moment of great exertion, he didn't notice the broken spacecraft slipping out, falling toward the ground below. The craft dropped with great velocity, a death trap to anyone inside. It hit a spire on the way down, causing the structure collapse and bear the impact.

Nova opened her eyes to see her limbs still intact. Kerrigan could be seen in the seat next to her, recovering from the crash. Not a moment sooner, the sight of the monster wrecking havoc drew their eyes.

"This is bad." Nova wiped the debris off herself.

"Could be worse." Kerrigan stood up straight, legs slightly shaking. "Better now than never."

"What now?" Nova asked.

"Escaping the void has taken a lot of strength from Narud." Kerrigan replied, her voice firm. "If he is allowed to recover fully, he'd be almost impossible to stop."

"We're doing something about it?" Nova took point to observe the beast. It expressed signs of fatigue in its movement, but the sheer strength and power it possessed was still remarkable.

"We cannot let him escape into the nether, so we must keep him here." Kerrigan turned to Nova, hands clutched onto the blonde's arms in an attempt to communicate good faith. "I need you for this."

"Anything." Nova was in the dark, but her faith didn't waver.

"Distract Narud until I get back." Kerrigan continued. "I will get a bigger army."

"In such short notice?" Nova protested.

"Trust me."

"Alright." She swallowed her doubts, and nodded. "I'll do my best."

"You can do this." Kerrigan took Nova's hands into hers.

"I can do this." Another nod.

"And don't die." One last thing. "Promise me."

"I don't plan to." Nova managed a tired smile.

Kerrigan departed immediately, leaving her significant other in the fray of battle with an impossible task. Nova allowed herself the brief leisure of watching her lover disappear into the distance, before turning to the task at hand. She ran, knowing her situation was dire, to the landing site off the other hill where she first landed. A series of mechanical platforms on rails separated her from her destination, and activating them would cause alert. It would prompt Narud to take a notice to her escape, and possibly ruin the plan. She deemed the risk necessary.

Feet rushed. Nova relied on the abandoned zerg biomass to be sufficient foliage to cover her movements. It worked, for Narud's rampage proved to be too appealing for him to care about his surroundings. The platforms began to buckle under the stress the entire planet was suffering, as the ancient rails seemed inadequate to handle such pressure. Nova grabbed onto, but it was yet ineffective. The engine failed half-way through, making a loud gritting hiss, before coming to a stop. She jumped off, knowing Narud was on to her. She ran on the railings, before a combustion beam engulfed the very steel she walked on, threatening to vaporise all. Nova took a leap, landing arms first onto the other side. Her limbs bled, but she could not afford to stop. She believed the space between her and the threat to be sufficient. Her eyes caught the sight of the Terran scout ship atop the rumbling earth.

Nova paced toward the ship, minding the lack of resistance. She climbed onto the pilot seat, and still had the time to see what Narud had in stored. The towering shadow of the giant beast grabbed her immediate attention, causing her to slam the engine. The ship took off in an instant, narrowly evading the giant tentacles out to crush it. The monster had made its way to the platform. Nova sweated.

The craft hovered above the surface, at the eye level of the four-hundred-metre-tall serpent. Those eyes, primal and vicious, followed the movement of the ship. Nova gulped when their gazes met, revealing an infinite depth of history through every look.

"Perhaps you're wondering why I haven't killed you yet." Narud's psychic voice bombarded the ether. She sensed a slight hint of false empathy. The more it resonated, however, pity rang. "Believe it or not, being amongst you humans have advanced me in ways you could never imagined."

"Is that so?" Nova spoke with caution. Nothing guaranteed that this conversation wasn't simply aimed at catching her off guard, so that she would stop squirming once the tentacles wrap around her ship and crush her into pieces.

"Indeed." Narud closed his jaw in a sign of good faith. Nova kept her guard up. "I sincerely felt the sting of pity when you mercilessly betrayed Kerrigan in my name. So much in fact, that I made the decision to make it my last act of deception."

"This coming from The Betrayer." She had her fingers outstretched across the panel, ready for anything. "I would be terribly naïve to believe you, especially after you trying to kill me just now."

"I don't intend to go back on my words." The solemnity in his voice almost convinced Nova for a second. "I'll even prove it to you."

"How exactly do you intend to do that." Nova narrowed her eyes.

"I've already told you my plans." Narud gave a slight chuckle. "I cannot deceive anyone if there wasn't anyone alive to deceive."

Nova clutched the handle and steered her ship out of the space, just as a tentacle attempted to slap her down. Regaining balance, she heard her heart pumping.

"So you'd just kill everything." She intended that to sound sarcastic, but found herself short of breath.

"Of course."

The tentacles came for her once again. Nova's fingers darted across the dashboard. The ship tore out of view, and reappeared moments later on the other side of the platform. Narud paused momentarily. This ship was a mode alien to him. Conventional wisdom dictated: Terran warships needed a considerably sized power core in order to teleport a controllable distance, often only found in Battlecruiser class eight or higher. The serpent unleashed another destruction beam to test the water. Once again, the ship vanished into space, before zooming into view right next to his head. He saw Nova practically gluinh her hand to the handle. Her contour glowed a blue aura, and her eye colour burnt a transparent cobalt colour. It became clear to him. She didn't need a reactor core for her ship. She was a reactor core.

The laser rifles strapped to the wings began firing, dealing minimal damage. Agitated, Narud had the tentacles block the attacks. The ship blinks once again, appearing at his exposed back, and continue the assault. The serpent spun around at breakneck speed, blasting another death ray. The struggle proved to be futile still, as none of the hits managed to connect. The game of perpetual cat-and-mouse served to be little but irritation for Narud. His hardened body paid little attention to this kind of damage, but he remained dubious. He understood Nova had immense psychic capacity, but she was Terran still. No human body could sustain this much power usage.

This fruitless routine went on for another minute, but the serpent had seen a significant slowdown. The rare glimpse he could catch of the ship's interior showed Nova no longer sitting up-right, instead slumped and struggling to breathe. The vehicle's movement was no longer crisp and swift, rather wobbly and random. The lasers have stopped, and he knew soon will this charade. This effort impressed him, but inadequate to contain his wrath.

Narud coiled into the middle of the rock, awaiting the next assault. The moment the ship entered teleportation, the tentacles spun into a wild storm. Nova didn't expect this, and was hit the moment her craft came into view. It went down like a bullet, with her frantically slamming the emergency ejection button. The ship crashed with force, immediately flattened by gravity. The failsafe propelled her off into the distance, before she suffered an eventual hard landing. Nova felt her entire torso crackling, no bones unbroken. She rolled onto her chest and tried to crawl, but her limbs wouldn't cooperate. Narud's gigantic shadow stood over her, while she helplessly watched.

"That was quite a display you put up." Narud sneered. "However, it was also your last."

Nova had no desire nor strength to utter a response, instead only closed her eyes.

He struck.

Nova's heartbeat confirmed her existence. Her body was elevated by an invisible force, subsequently carried away from danger. Not being able to see, she could tell. The way the arms wrapped beneath her legs, and behind her lower back, possessively clutched onto her chest was all too familiar.

"Sorry I'm late," Kerrigan whispered. Nova melted at the tone, and coiled into her lover's protective embrace.

Narud raised the weighty pillars, expecting to see a pool of blood. Instead, rubbles greeted him. He boomed in frustration. It didn't last long, for he sensed a presence of power within the vicinity. Turning to the edge of the floating rock, he saw Kerrigan, with the blonde woman he was trying to kill in her arms. She stood there, eyes glaring daggers at him.

"The Fallen Queen returns." Narud scoffed. "Here I thought you have run and saved your own skin." A pause. "That would have been smart."

"No more talk." The spark in her eyes ignited into a burst of fiery energy. "You die."

The serpent spared a moment to take in those threats, before exerting a hearty laugh.

Ulnar wailed.

Sonars of cosmic proportions rang across deep space, coming from all directions. They drowned out Narud's laughter completely, though he had ceased. Massive flyers appeared from the endless space of the Koprulu sector. Their bodies casted moon-sized shadows onto the platnet surface, and each as big as the planet itself. These titanic zerg organisms fell into formation, with broods of underlings sprouting from the spores on their backs, and tendrils extending from below. Narud stood in silence. He expected Kerrigan to put up a fight, for even the great xel'naga could not imagine her managing to assemble every single leviathan in the sector.

"Kerrigan!" He bellowed in rage, extending his tentacles to strike her position.

Two hundred leviathans consecutively fired their bio-plasma discharge, puncturing the air space and drowned the xel'naga under sheer pressure of the florid eruption. It gave him no chance to react, let alone respond, before obliterating every molecule of his being. The tentacles flung at Kerrigan, now no longer attached to a body, lost their momentum half-way through and landed harmlessly at the ground below, creating a quaking ripple. It didn't last long, and soon dead silence reigned the atmosphere.

Kerrigan's eyes returned to its emerald origin, as the leviathans began to disappear back into deep space. She gazed at the woman in her arms, knocked unconscious due to the pain, vulnerable and infinitely alluring. Her legs buckled under exhaustion, and the two slowly hit the ground. Nova whimpered pitiably, before drifting off once more. Kerrigan stared into the darkness above. The victory soaked her mind, and reminded her of the years of strife. Only yesterday she thought she would never have to fight again, yet here she was. Shadows of the past and visions of the future flashed before her eyes, reminding her of every regret, every mistake. The curse of pointless wars and betrayals gnawed at her conscience.

She turned to Nova, and they all faded to black.


	9. Epilogue

Epilogue

The bottle rolled across the countertop. Joeyray's Bar always had quiet Sundays, since no one took up space like James. Every week, once a week, he rolled in with his hover car, scruffy t-shirt, and greyed jeans, to drink what might as well be the entire cabinet. The man had enough money to rent out the place, light his cigars, and wallow in regrets.

"Joey," he murmured.

"Yeah?" The bartender, older and balder, cautiously replied.

"How are things?" James' eyes were at the ceiling.

"Good." Joey turned to him, looking concerned. "Jim, you practically fund my kids' college, so don't take this the wrong way, but I don't think drinking like this is good for you."

"What brought this on?" James waved his glass around, beer spilling at every turn. "Aren't we're all cowboys out here?"

"We were, Jim, but I've a family now." Joey grabbed him by the arm, and stopped the erroneous waste of perfectly fine alcohol. "You're in your forties. Don't you think it's time to at least look at your options?"

"Space is my battlefield, Joey." James wrestled back the glass and chugged it down. "You don't gotta look out for me."

The bartender sighed. They had this conversation often. To have the Dominion's greatest general slumping in his bar week to week was both flattering and worrying at the same time. What was a general to do in this golden age of intergalactic peace? Once again, he had no choice but to give in to James' wishes, and poured yet another glass. James often came in with no more than his clothes and his badge, while his tab grew to obscene amounts. He would pay it immediately once he sobered up the next morning, but no one ever liked a penniless drunk.

A knock at the door.

The two men inside narrowed their eyes. The bar's door held a Closed sign. The bartender wondered what possible business someone could have at a Mar Sara's joint in the middle of the desert this time of day. James paid little attention, instead caressed his badge, even as the door opened inward.

"Jim." A sultry female voice called out to him.

James didn't immediately answer, his consciousness slowly returning.

"Sarah?" He mumbled.

"You're ready to leave, Jim?" The slim, toned silhouette at the door asked.

"Hell," he chuckled, "it's about time."

Grabbing his badge, James walked merrily, and unstably, toward the womanly form. She left the door and stepped outside, prompting him to follow. He took another fives step, before his brain clued in on the fact that no one was there but him. He stared at the empty space. His eyes gazed down to the bleeping hologram projector on the ground.

Two miles away, Nova observed his ordeal through a sniper rifle laser scope.

She had him, the last loose end, in her sight. It was simply too easy. Just a light movement of a finger, and he would be dead. He, who had haunted her in dreams and awake, was the final target. Killing him would sever the last ties of Kerrigan with the rest of this world, and she could rest easy. Nova saw him dropped to his knees in realisation of the trick. The false hopes he had built up in his previous moments of clarity crashed down upon his bearings. His badge fell into the sand. The wind began to kick up. She raised the crosshair directly to his temple. She was an S-Class ghost. Her shots do not miss.

She didn't pull the trigger.

Hands trembling, Nova lowered the weapon. She felt sympathy for James in this moment. She felt guilty of herself, for having so little faith in her lover that she went this close to executing an innocent man for daring to have displayed affection for the wrong woman. She wasn't going to let his life weigh on her conscience for the rest of her existence.

Her communicator rang. She held a finger to her ear. The gathering dust clouds told her to leave as soon as possible.

"Anna." Kerrigan's voice poured through the receiver. "Where are you? You've been gone since morning without a word."

"I had to meet an old friend." Nova took a quick look back at her almost-victim, to see he had gotten on his feet again. "I'll be home in a bit."

"Stay safe."

"Always."

Nova shut off the communicator, and packed up her equipment. She vowed to never have such a thought again. She had someone to return to, and that was enough. She vowed to be worthy of Kerrigan's eternal affection, so that there would never be a chance for the rekindling of old flames. If Kerrigan was to be hers and hers alone, she would have to work for it. She was willing.

Her ship soon disappeared into darkness, and left behind a trail of crumpled stardust staining the air space.

James Raynor walked toward the sandstorm.

* * *

 _ **End**_


	10. Afterword

Afterword

Greetings,

I end yet another story. Looking back, these have always been great time for reflections.

First, there will most likely never be another sequel, since I doubt there will be another official Starcraft main franchise release for a long time. There may be spin-off games in the works, but those have neither promise nor concrete information. I work with canon, though often around it, and if new canon invalidates all of my past and future efforts, which it is likely to, I simply part ways. There's nothing else to do.

Secondly, some have expressed their surprise regarding the series' ending. I never once considered to write an adventure or domestic life story regarding Nova and Kerrigan. The reason why I wrote December is the same as to why I wrote November Princess: I wanted to salvage the characters the only way I know how, namely making them lesbians. Crude and heavy-handed as it may be, this is the end result. I'm not here to write someone else's fantasy, and mine simply let all be all. There's only so much condensed drama I can churn out before I positively sperg, so this is the end.

Thirdly, I've made no secret of my disdain regarding Blizzard's treatment of their iconic characters. The frankly disgraceful modern portrayal of names such as Deckard Cain, Sarah Kerrigan, Illidan Stormage, Sylvanas Windrunner etc. in all of their comedic twists and half-hearted high school grit tires me. It's one of the biggest reasons why DotA (the fanfiction) is trudging along. Blizzard makes decent enough games (except the atrocity that is Heroes of the Storm), but they haven't written a single passable piece since 2005. I probably won't be working with any of their titles ever again, and a shame in that.

Lastly, I have to say that I thank you for your continuous support. I wouldn't have been here without you, whether you decide to comment or not. I have my statistics, and I know just how many of you are out there. I'm not the type to hold conversation with my readers, but that doesn't mean I appreciate you any less.

Yours truly,

LightRedemption


	11. Special

_**To 2016**_

* * *

Special

"This marks the one-year anniversary of the conclusion of the Second Great War. Emperor Valerian Mengsk is to hold a press conference later tonight, approximately eight Earth hours from now, to address concerns and criticisms of his first year of leadership, as well as the reappearance of rogue Zerg forces at the edge of the sector."

Nova shut off the broadcast.

She looked around, at the table on which her feet were resting, at the counter on where the remnants of last night's drunken escapades resided, at the light protruding from atop the living space. Everything was too sterile, and it disgusted her. If someone told her a few months prior she would miss having dirt under her fingernails and blood on her hands, she would have laughed, then shot the person. She picked up her communicator and slid it around her ear. As she expected, there was no new message. She sighed, before reluctantly returning it.

Today was her turn to make breakfast. It was late, she could tell, but it mattered not. No one visited, not that she particularly would want that, and the coffee's the only thing boiling for miles. No matter how hard she tried, it became apparent that a few months of idleness would not turn her into someone who enjoyed the solidarity of the recluse life. No amount of time would.

She no longer had assignments. The most challenging thing for her to do was to pick something decent to cook up every day. Personally, compressed travel nutrients were fine by her standard, but if she skipped even this activity, it would render her with absolutely nothing to do to pass time. That was, until the other resident of the house woke up.

Nova stretched her limbs. Her hips were sore, and head pounded like a bass drum. She started the coffeemaker, and watched the mystifyingly dull brown liquid churned inside the electric containment field. A spark later, the kitchen smelled of the rich, artificial aroma. Sip by sip, she regained her composure, and subsequently her boredom. This was her morning routine, at least until she was no longer the only one awake.

Her communicator beeped.

Eyebrows raised, Nova sauntered toward the signal. She had received a message. Classified, it marked, and peaked her interest substantially. It was not surprising to her that someone would contact her eventually, but there hadn't been any signs that would point to a personal mission. She turned to the bedroom, and saw no movement. Inexplicably guilty, she read the message.

"We need to talk.

-V. Mengsk"

The message was brief, as all classified ones were. Nova sank into the stiff sofa, contemplating the implications of this communication. Mengsk would be one of the few who had the resources to discover where she lived, and he was coming personally. This had to be big, or extremely discrete. The possibly of it being both existed, but such an extraordinary position would most likely have left a sign. Either way, Nova dressed herself, and closed the bedroom door. The young prince was punctual, if anything, and she expected him to show up any minute.

A knock on the door.

It was like him to not use the doorbell, too.

She opened the door for the blond, burly man. He wore his entire gaudy outfit, with red cape, gold pauldrons, and all. The sword rested firmly on his side, sheath blended in with the rest of the black royalty clothes. His expression, eternally solemn and dire, had a few more lines than she recalled. Compared to her commoner clothing, he was as overdressed as one could possibly be.

"Nova." He took a light bow. She didn't respond. "It took me a lot of effort to locate you."

"It's intentional, Valerian." She smirked. "Or, do you go by 'emperor' now?"

"Just Valerian is fine." He brushed the cape back. "May I come in?"

"Help yourself."

A matter of hospitality, of course. She hadn't a choice to refuse him. Closing the door behind them, she acknowledged the fact that the crown king of the entire sector came to her home unescorted. She couldn't even spot his ship in the distance. This was a very secretive meeting, that much was easy to see.

"Coffee?" She offered.

"Please." He gracious received the comically oversized mug. The host didn't expect visitor, and that was the only clean one with which she had to work. "I must say, it's jarring to see you in such a casual setting."

"I never had this option before." She sat, prompting him to do the same. "I know you didn't sneak to the remotest possible colony of the Dominion to chat, so if you may go ahead."

"Right." He took a large mouthful, and downed it without so much as a second thought. "I believe you're familiar with the Defenders of Man?"

"I know they're a separatist militia comprised of anti-Dominion factions." The harder Nova made herself found, the harder for her to gather information. All she had were leaked reports of the ghost programmes. "Their motives and ideals, however, are largely unknown to me."

"Here." Mengsk handed her an electronic device with a picture of a woman: grey hair, brown eyes, dressed in Terran Dominion military uniform. "Do you recognise her?"

"Carolina Davis," Nova commented, briefly reminded of an unpleasant past. "She was an old family friend."

"She is also the leader of the Defenders of Man." He flipped the device to further personal information of the subject. "An old general of my father's, she believed the Terran Dominion needs a stronger leadership, and seeks to overthrow me."

"That was succinct," Nova noted. "I don't see how this concern me."

"You're one of the, if not the, most experienced operatives." Mengsk pulled up a few sectors on the screen. "The Defenders of Man had somehow managed to procure psi emitters from the remnants of the old Moebius Foundation."

"So they are responsible for the recent Zerg attacks." Nova nodded in understanding. "And you need my help to take care of it."

"That's the gist of it." He returned to drinking his coffee. "Our every move, even in the academies, is being monitored heavily by separatist forces. I came to you, in private, because I know you're the best we have, and off the public's eye at the same time."

"You truly believe no one followed you here?" She asked.

"That much I can be certain." He said.

"You should know that I've already put in a word for my last mission, that it was to be just that, my last." She distinctly remembered being very clear on that point.

"I understand your desire to retire, but you must understand that we're also stretched very thin," he implored. "All of our capital is poured into rebuilding the damage of the civil war, and with Jim Raynor missing, we had no one left to ask."

"Jim Raynor's missing?" Nova craned an eyebrow.

"He had been for four months." The timing was as she feared. "The last person to see him was the owner of Joeyray's Bar, an establishment on Mar Sara. Jim apparently left in a drunken stupor, never to be seen again."

Nova stayed silent for a moment. She knew every minute of this event, up until the part where Raynor went missing. Nervous, she took a deep breath, and collected herself. She considered Valerian's offer. Only half an hour prior she was moaning to herself how this uneventful life was a chore to uphold, and how she yearned for action. It was a tempting proposal, no matter how she looked at it.

Her eye caught a glimpse of a pair of framed picture on the mantelpiece.

Two photographs sat side-by-side. One was of her, the other of a smiling, feminine face. Long, auburn tresses fell over that coy smile. She remembered taking that picture, how she was also smiling, positively glittering with happiness. She looked to the locked bedroom, and her mind was at ease.

"I'll have to say no, Valerian." She stood up, and collected his mug. "My place is right here. I'm retired."

"But surely, you're aware of the danger to the empire," he protested.

"That isn't my fight, not anymore." She opened the door. "Thank you for visiting."

"I'm disappointed, but I'm in no position to force duty upon those who do not wish it." He bowed, overtly annoyed. Despite this, his mannerism remained calm. Nova could not help but be impressed.

"I'm glad you're actually practicing what you preach, Valerian," she commented. "I don't recall a previous emperor that was concerned with his subject's liberty."

"I am not the man my father was," he remarked. "I wish to serve a greater good. I believe we have that much in common."

"Perhaps," she mused. "What do you plan to say about the Zerg attacks?"

"The forces we're dealing with are mere manipulated tools of anarchy. The Dominion is not at war with the Swarm, and I shall address the public as such."

"A nice, diplomatic message."

"It is what I believe." He grabbed his cape, and turned. "Good day."

She didn't reply, only waved him goodbye.

Shutting the door behind her, Nova stashed away her teleporter, and brewed another coffee cup. In her wait, she strolled toward the bed, before putting herself beneath the blankets. A warm, loving arm wrapped around her shoulders.

"You're back to bed?" asked a tired, sleepy voice.

"Yeah." Nova was glad for how soundproof these walls were. "I'm just feeling a little lonely."

"Ok."

Those arms drew her close. She could feel the touch of that supple skin, and warmth transferred through the tender touch. A soft pair of lips planted a light kiss of her forehead.

"I never understood why you sleep so much, Sarah." Nova coiled into the embrace.

"Try going eight years without sleep." A slight chuckle. "You'll miss it as much as I do."

"When are you waking up then?" Nova asked.

"Whenever you get out of bed."

"Then I'll stay a little longer."


End file.
